Blade
Blade is known around New York as a paranormal investigator and is sometimes employed by people who suspect they have run against something afoul. He also is known in the paranormal community and is open for hire to them as well. Among the vampires he is the 'Daywalker' the most feared hunter they have ever known. Background Eric Brooks, the man later known as Blade, was born in XXXX in a whorehouse in the Soho neighborhood of London, England. His father, Lucas Cross, a member of the secret society the Order of Tyrana, sent his pregnant wife Tara to England before he was taken prisoner in Latveria. There she took the name Vanessa Brooks and found shelter with brothel owner Madame Vanity, another member of the Order of Tyrana. Experiencing labor complications, Tara was forced to seek a doctor's assistance. The doctor, Deacon Frost, was actually a ravenous vampire and feasted on the woman as she gave birth, passing on a series of enzymes that altered her baby. The enzymes entered the infant's bloodstream, transforming him into a Dhampir - a being tainted by a vampire's kiss, but not converted. Frost was driven away before he could slay the child, but Tara perished, leaving the orphaned Eric Brooks to be raised at Madame Vanity's brothel. Determined to avenge her death, he fashioned himself into a vampire hunter even before he reached adulthood. Blade grew up living at Madame Vanity's, and at age nine, returning home from school one December, he saw an old man being attacked by three vampires. Blade helped the old man, who used a silver cane to kill the vampires and fight off the attackers. The man was Jamal Afari, a jazz trumpeter and vampire-hunter who then moved into Madame Vanity's and trained the young Blade in both music and combat. Blade was soon able to defeat many of the weak, younger vampires that he and Afari found in abundance. Blade became a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, with an expertise in edged weapons such as knives and daggers. After stalking the night on his own for a number of years, Blade became leader of a small band of like-minded individuals hunting Dracula. He first encountered the dark lord in Japan, after many months of searching. Blade lured Dracula into an ambush, and the vampire was slain with a wooden stake. However, Dracula soon was resurrected by his servants and exacted revenge by murdering Blade's entire band of vampire hunters. Blade pressed on, often fighting alongside a team led by Quincy Harker, the great vampire hunter. The company's members included Rachel van Helsing and Frank Drake. Later, Blade teamed with vampiric private eye Hannibal King to hunt down and destroy Frost. Blade, King and Drake helped Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts and Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, cast a spell that destroyed Dracula and all the vampires on the planet. Following their victory, King was cured of his vampirism. Subsequently, he and King formed a private-investigation firm. The mother of all demons, Lilith, hired Blade's agency to kill Ghost Rider -- the leather-clad, motorcycle-riding Spirit of Vengeance -- and bad-boy John Blaze, the fiery skeleton's former host. After a protracted battle, Blade and company realized they had been duped. The team joined with Ghost Rider and Blaze against Lilith, battling her monstrous minion Meatmarket. Blade, Drake and King continued their partnership with Ghost Rider and Blaze. Along with Dr. Strange, Morbius the Living Vampire and the Darkhold Redeemers, they formed the Midnight Sons, a group dedicated to preserving the boundaries between our world and the dark realms. The Midnight Sons clashed with Lilith and her demonspawn, the Lilin, in a supernatural contest with Earth as the prize. The Midnight Sons proved victorious, destroying Lilith and her brood. Blade's desire to destroy supernatural enemies led him to be tricked into using the Darkhold. As 'Switchblade' he attacked a number of supernatural beings and stole their power in the 'Midnight Massacre'. Eventually Blade was stopped and another page of the Darkhold was used to restore things back to normal. However, the team was unable to prevent its hated quarry, the vampire, from returning to the Earth realm. Blade, Drake and King, who again had become afflicted with vampirism, began their crusade anew to cleanse the world of all bloodsuckers. Blade and his partners clashed with dread lord Varnae -- supposedly the first vampire, the demon who had visited this hellish curse upon men. King and Drake were slain in a bloody and futile battle. The loss of his compatriots only strengthened Blade's resolve to rid the world of vampires, regardless of the circumstances of their creation. Blade was also temporarily in SHIELD custody due to the machinations of Silvereye as they sought to use him. Following the Skrull invasion of Britain, Blade joined MI:13 to aid with the resurgence of evil forces, resulting from the Skrulls defeat. Blade stayed on with MI:13 until the group later disbanded to lack of funding. However he managed to keep a few ties to members of the organization such as Pete Wisdom when he decided to go solo yet again. After the events that caused the worlds to merge, Blade left Europe and headed back to the States to find out the cause. Personality Detached: Blade exhibits a detached personality, even towards the humans that he has sworn to protect. He has shown an emotionless attitude and has rarely shown any sympathy towards humans that he's saved. At least not to their faces. Self-Loathing: Blade hates what he is. He despises all vampires and in turn despises himself even though it's because of his heritage that he's so good at what he does. This inner turmoil is the reason why he often prefers solace compared to being out among people when he's not working. Boastful: Blade exhibits a completely different personality when fighting vampires. He knows that he is as strong as they are, and that he has spent years honing his martial skills. He often talks trash to them, belittling them during combat. Loyalty: Blade doesn't have a lot of people he would call friends. But he does have a very short list of associates that he would call on if he needed help. He is fiercely loyal to those people until they either cross him or become a vampire. Then all bets are off. Logs *2012-10-25 - The Spy, The Hunter and the Kryptonian - Minor skirmish. Stuff is wrecked. A girl gets her feelings hurt. *2012-11-15 - Oddness in Otherworld: Elf's Revenge - Pete Wisdom and Blade the Daywalker arrive in Otherworld, seeking out the elves with guns in the beginning of their quest to save Christmas. *2012-12-24 - Oddness in Otherworld: Saving Christmas! - An unlikely band of heroes and anti-heroes get together to save a jolly old elf. *2013-02-03 - Enforcement of Mutant Survival - Blade gets a surprise meeting from two very flamboyant individuals with a deal to do what he is best at. *2013-02-15 - Fury Clone - Fantomex bites off more than he intended to chew by following up on Blade's off-wall comment. *2013-03-02 - Statue of Muggoo-Nugoo: Night at the Museum - It's a battle for an ancient mystical statue when Talia al Ghul tries to steal it from a museum. The White Fox and Blade are there to stop her! *2013-03-10 - Statue of Muggoo-Nugoo: Shiva at the Lair - After Talia's failure, Ra's sends the best to retrieve the Statue. A fight between her and Blade, Lady Paper, and the White Fox ensues with a surprise ending! *2013-11-13 - X-Force Returns - Cable calls in allies to take down what he thinks is Apocalypse, but finds out to be something more sinister with the Daywalker already leading the charge. Category:Marvel Feature Category:Marvel Hero Category:New York City Category:Marvel Taken